Sony has agreed to support tru2way, a Java-based middleware stack that runs on …

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CableCARD technology has always faced a major adoption hurdle. While the cards themselves can handle two-way communication, TVs and set-top boxes were unable to use them for anything beyond one-way traffic. The lack of video on demand services and electronic program guides (to say nothing of the problems this posed for switched digital video) meant that CableCARD solutions were generally inferior to the boxes provided by the local cable company. Until now.

In what is something of an armistice between the consumer electronics business (the people who make the TVs) and the cable business (the people who stream content to those TVs), Sony and six major US cable operators have inked a memorandum of understanding to use the Java-based tru2way technology. Combined with a CableCARD for decryption, the system will make two-way cable products practical, something that could cripple the existing set-top box market. And we know just how much you loved that set-top box.

Tru2way: Bad name, good idea

Tru2way is the rebranded name for an initiative hatched years ago at the cable industry's CableLabs research consortium. It's a middleware stack that will be included directly in televisions and other consumer devices that make use of cable programming, and it offers a common system for application development (cable companies can download apps like electronic programming guides into the device).

Yup, you still need it

Because apps are downloaded into consumer devices and run locally, it should be simple for cable operators to roll out features like games, web-type services such as online backing through the TV, e-mail access, even caller ID on the TV screen. ("Honey, the TV crashed again!")

The new agreement between Sony and the cable companies means that all have agreed to adopt the system and roll it out within a designated timeframe. It also gives consumer electronics companies like Sony input at CableLabs, a key part of the deal. The companies can now shape the development of tru2way rather than having the standard imposed on them, to cable's benefit.

The agreement will be expanded to other consumer electronics makers who want to sign on. While companies like Panasonic have previously announced support for tru2way, that deal was only between Panasonic and Comcast. Getting Cox, Time Warner, Comcast, Charter, Cablevision, and Bright House onboard should go a long way toward making tru2way a plug-and-play national standard for digital television.

Boucher likes it

Representative Rick Boucher (D-VA) has been a pro-consumer tech voice in Congress and a long-time critic of the DMCA, and he applauded the agreement today. "I congratulate Sony and the major cable operators for achieving consensus on a set of core principles that will speed the introduction of new two-way plug-and-play devices," he said. "With this groundbreaking compromise, these industry-leading companies and other major cable companies will ensure that consumers will have broader access to innovative competitive cable ready navigation devices from commercial retailers and will have expanded options to enjoy cable programming, including video on demand and other interactive programming options."

Rep. Rick Boucher

The "compromise" Boucher is referring to is the adoption of the cable-built tru2way system; consumer electronics companies had been petitioning the FCC to force the cable companies to standardize and open their protocols for digital two-way services so that the consumer electronics firms could be in charge of designing the interfaces on their devices.

One possible downside of the news: the official announcement notes that the system will "protect consumers' home recording rights along with copyright owners' rights to secure their digital content." We'll have to wait and see how that last bit works itself out.

While the move means that digital cable could soon become as plug-and-play as analog cable was (and is, I suppose), it will be quite some time before the much-loathed set-top box vanishes. If the move to digital over-the-air broadcasting has already showed us one thing, it's that people hang onto their TVs a looooong time. Two-way services will only work on new, tru2way-equipped TVs; older sets, even those with CableCARDs, are out of luck.